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What Makes Airbus A320 the World's Best-Selling Narrow-Body Airplane?
The battle for a greater market share is fierce between aviation stalwarts Airbus and Boeing . Boeing leads in the wide-body segment, while Airbus is the winner in the narrow-body market. The European aero major forecasts that around 70% (20,242 planes) of the total demand for aircraft over the next two decades will be for the single-aisle variety. (www.seattlepi.com) More...
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All I want to know is when Airbus plans to fix that ridiculous set of hydraulic transfer valves in the wing box that makes it sound like a NASCAR pit crew is attempting to set records during start-up, taxi, and shut-down.
Those hydraulic transfer valves you refer to . Is a hydraulic pressure transfer pump , (PTU). It transfers pressure between the Green and Yellow hydraulic systems. It.operates during start of the second engine as a check of the system and when there is a pressure drop of 500 psi in either the green or yellow system. It's operation is inhibited when the nose wheel steering is disconnected during push back or towing. Or when the engine master switches are split and the parking brake is set. It s located in the main landing gear wheel well. So if your sitting over the wing you'll hear it, during those times I mentioned. If the crew is taxing on one engine after landing and don't have the yellow system electric pump on you'll hear it. Which depends what the airlines procedures are for that phase of operation . At the airline I flew for we operated the yellow electric pump during single engine taxi. So you won't hear the PTU. Hope this clears up why you hear that,"ridiculous set of hydraulic transfer valves". BTW the DC-9 and MD-80 have a similar pump in it's hydraulic system. It's located tail section of the aircraft. So you don't hear it when it operates.
What about the sound that continues for a few minutes in to the flight? That annoying sound is the first reason I avoid A320 flights when I have a choice. It's just bad design on Airbus's part to subject passengers to that noise (especially when Boeing manages to not have that noise in the 737.
Ashley,
It's not bad design. It's something (PTU) that needs to be part of system. When all the flight controls along with the landing gear, flaps and slats are hydraulic powered. The PTU operates when there are high demands on the hydraulic system. Such as after takeoff when the landing gear and flaps are retracted. Next time sit up front you won't hear the PTU.Your old tech. B-737 isn't fly by wire. Doesn't require a lot of hydraulic power.
It's not bad design. It's something (PTU) that needs to be part of system. When all the flight controls along with the landing gear, flaps and slats are hydraulic powered. The PTU operates when there are high demands on the hydraulic system. Such as after takeoff when the landing gear and flaps are retracted. Next time sit up front you won't hear the PTU.Your old tech. B-737 isn't fly by wire. Doesn't require a lot of hydraulic power.
The bad design is the fact that they didn't implement it in a way that minimized or eliminated the noise in the cabin. It makes passengers uncomfortable, whether because they don't understand what the noise is and think something is going wrong, or just because they're annoyed by the annoying sound.
Old tech or new tech, Airbus could have done a better job of designing the system.
Old tech or new tech, Airbus could have done a better job of designing the system.
The design goal is to make shareholders happy. Any passenger happiness is a bonus. Just like other publicly traded companies.
Because that has anything to with the airlines' ultimate goals, right?
